BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World also calls it the gilded hummingbird but with the binomial Amazilia chrysura.

Adult males are mostly iridescent golden-green, with a pale rufous chin and a glittering golden-bronze tail.

It inhabits open landscapes such as savannah with scattered trees, the edges and clearings of forests, plantations, and gardens.

[8] The gilded sapphire appears to be generally sedentary, but it is migratory in parts of Brazil and adjacent Bolivia.

[8] The gilded sapphire forages for nectar at a wide variety of native and introduced plants, shrubs, and trees.

In addition to nectar the species feeds on insects caught by hawking from a perch and also gleans spiders from webs.